Billy Moyer after his Deep Fried 75 win
The Southern Nationals Bonus Series served as the sanctioning body for the two-night Deep Fried 75 held at the Duck River Raceway Park this weekend. When all was said and done from the weekend of racing, it was National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame member Billy Moyer who used a late race pass to secure the $13,000 first prize.
Qualifying and heat races were held on Friday night while two consolation races and the feature event were contested on Saturday evening in front of a packed grandstand.
Billy Moyer, Jr. proved to be the fastest in Group A qualifying and overall when he posted a lap of 12.536 seconds around the quarter-mile clay oval. Chase Junghans, Riley Hickman and David Payne followed the second generation driver in that group.
Tanner English turned the quickest lap in Group B time-trials when he circled the middle Tennessee facility in 12.635 seconds. That lap bettered the times of Shane Clanton, Brian Shirley and Southern Nationals Bonus Series points leader Donald McIntosh.
Hickman earned the pole for the main event by capturing the first heat race ahead of Moyer Jr., Vic Hill and Oakley Johns while Junghans beat out Billy Moyer, Allen Murray and Ryan King in the second heat.
Shirley earned the honor of starting the feature race on the outside of the front row when he won the third heat over Tanner English, Ricky Weiss and Billy Ogle, Jr. before McIntosh scored the win in the fourth preliminary ahead of Clanton, Cody Mahoney and Frank Heckenast, Jr.
David Seibers and Caleb Ashby earned their way into the main event by winning the two B-main races used to set the remainder of the starting lineup.
Shirley used his outside front row starting spot to his advantage as he charged to the front of the field at the start of the 75-lap feature ahead of McIntosh, Hickman, English and Junghans. Action picked up immediately on the lightning fast track as McIntosh began to harass Shirley for the lead during the early laps. At the same time, Hickman fell back as Junghans, English and Clanton all moved passed within the race’s first five circuits.
On lap 5, the suddenly red hot McIntosh, who won $10,000 last weekend in Crossville, looked to be a serious threat to score another lucrative payday when on lap 5 he wrested the lead of the race away from Shirley. Shortly thereafter, the father and son duo of Billy Moyer and Billy Moyer, Jr. began to move forward as each claimed positions within the top-5 on lap 13.
English survived a scare on lap 15 when he had to spin to avoid the prone car of David Payne in turn four. That incident brought out the first of ten yellow flags that would keep the race pace in check throughout much pf the night. English was placed back into the position(3rd) he had been running prior to his mishap.
As the race’s first third was nearing completion, there was an intense battle taking place among English, Shirley, Moyer Jr., Clanton and Mahoney for positions two through six on the race track while Billy Moyer stalked these drivers from his seventh position. English would eventually break away from that fight to offer a challenge to McIntosh for the lead.
A pivotal moment occurred on lap 25 as English attempted to take the lead away from McIntosh. As a result of the intense racing, McIntosh spun after the two made contact in turn two. While both cars came away relatively unscathed, it would be McIntosh who would suffer the most when he had to restart the race for the back of the pack.
English controlled the middle stages of the vent as he would build up sizable leads only to see them negated by caution flags time after time.
Moyer methodically moved himself through the field until he was poised to strike during the closing laps. Finally, just after a lap 64 restart, the veteran driver seized an opportunity to make his move as he bolted by English in turn one. From that point, the No. 21 machine controlled the race and picked up the win.
Feature Finish: 1. Billy Moyer, 2. Tanner English, 3. Caleb Ashby, 4. Ricky Weiss, 5. David Payne, 6. Billy Moyer Jr., 7. Riley Hickman, 8. Donald McIntosh, 9. Brad Skinner, 10. Ryan King, 11. Brian Shirley, 12. David Seibers, 13. Frank Heckenast, Jr., 14. Cody Mahoney, 15. Oakley Johns, 16. Shane Clanton, 17. Brent Larson, 18. Chase Junghans, 19. Allen Murray, 20. Billy Ogle Jr., 21. Vic Hill, 22. Eric Hickerson, 23. Doug Smith
